An overnight fire at a building owned by Norwood’s reported worst landlord displaced every tenant on one of winter’s chilliest nights.
It was a fire that woke up Michael Cotto, a six-year tenant at 3414 Knox Pl. His daughter first woke up, inhaling smoke.
“Everything is gone,” said Cotto, standing alongside his wife, Jacqueline Colon. Luckily, the pair and their daughter have found a home at his mother-in-law’s house. He and dozens of others in the 36-unit building have been displaced.
Photo by David Cruz
The building was listed as being owned by Narsinh Desai. In November, New York City Public Advocate Letitia James placed Desai on the 100 Worst Landlords Watchlist. Desai was placed 70th on the citywide shame list for having 118 violations in his building. The building now has 36 violations, with two C violations, considered the most egregious.
Desai is listed as the managing agent for Norwest Realty, a local management company at 287 E. Gun Hill Rd. Cotto and other tenants have taken the management company to Housing Court to make repairs to the building’s electrical system. Though a cause of fire is still being determined, residents suspect the building’s electrical system is to blame for the fire.
“This is the result of being cheap with the electrical, that’s what this is,” said Michael Espilco.
Cotto and Colon have directly sued Nick Gazivoda, one of the officers at Norwest Realty, who oversees the buildings day-to-day operations.
“The landlord never did anything. We took him to court,” said Cotto, wrapped in a blanket provided to him by the American Red Cross. “All he did was change the circuit breaker and the problem kept still occurring. Did he come to fix it? No. Now we have a fire and everything is gone.”
“Since 2015 I’ve had him in court and he doesn’t fix the problem,” said Colon.
The fire started at around 4:30 a.m. on the sixth floor of the six-story building, according to fire officials. At least two people were injured, according to the fire battalion chief. The fire was put up just after 6 a.m. The building’s A, B and C lines were impacted. The FDNY usually sees more activity during frigid nights when tenants are turning on stoves or ovens to stay warm. The Red Cross provided assistance to some 15 families.
“I have a petition from the A, B and C lines. Everybody have flickering lights. Everybody had power outage,” said Colon.
Gazivoda, who was on site to assess the roof damaged sustained by the fire, was unavailable for comment.
“All of these people have no place to live now because of his negligence,” said Espilco.
Fire crews weren’t only handling to bring down the Knox Place blaze. An abandoned home long considered an eyesore along Decatur Avenue burned for more than an hour early this morning and was all but gutted.
The blaze broke out in the basement of 3132 Decatur Avenue, and quickly spread to the first and second floors. Firefighters contained the fire from sweeping into the Huang Lee Laundromat next door.
“Our units responded to a three-story unoccupied multiple dwelling with a working fire in the basement,” said FDNY spokesman Keith Reilly. “At its height, the fire was an all-hands,” which Reilly stated consisted of 60 members and 12 units.
Members were able to bring the fire under control at 5:18 a.m., Reilly added, “There were no reported injuries and the cause is still under investigation.”
Despite having been boarded up for several years, one source told the Norwood News, “I had heard that people had been going in there, but I haven’t seen anyone recently.”
A second house fire in October severely damaged another home and injured an occupant as well as a firefighter and paramedic.
That fire also remains under investigation.
Additional reporting by David Greene
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Welcome to the Norwood News, a bi-weekly community newspaper that primarily serves the northwest Bronx communities of Norwood, Bedford Park, Fordham and University Heights. Through our Breaking Bronx blog, we focus on news and information for those neighborhoods, but aim to cover as much Bronx-related news as possible. Founded in 1988 by Mosholu Preservation Corporation, a not-for-profit affiliate of Montefiore Medical Center, the Norwood News began as a monthly and grew to a bi-weekly in 1994. In September 2003 the paper expanded to cover University Heights and now covers all the neighborhoods of Community District 7. The Norwood News exists to foster communication among citizens and organizations and to be a tool for neighborhood development efforts. The Norwood News runs the Bronx Youth Journalism Heard, a journalism training program for Bronx high school students. As you navigate this website, please let us know if you discover any glitches or if you have any suggestions. We’d love to hear from you. You can send e-mails to norwoodnews@norwoodnews.org or call us anytime (718) 324-4998.
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Its appalling to learn that tenants were evacuated and the fire is under investigation yet the super was rambling through belongings in several apartments. There was a clean up crew discarding furniture and charred clothing. The displaced tenants should of been contacted and allowed into their units to decide whether there was any salvagae items. Apparently management is eager to repair the apartments and lack compassion for the negligence that caused the displacement on one of the coldest mornings of winter
Salvageable
It’s all true as I had lived in unit 6B at 3414 Knox Place. My unit had suffered the most destruction out of all units that sustained fire damage in the building. I was forced to evacuate my unit with only the clothes I was wearing. I had lost everything including all personal documents. Management and others had looted my apartment. Management lied and stated all of my property was destroyed. I had visited the building on December 27 and saw my bedroom set in tact.The drawers were pilfered through. Every tenant in the building was able to salvage items except myself. The fire didn’t start in my unit and yet management refuses to help me to relocate.They know my unit may never be deemed habitable again. The other tenants will be able to return to their units while I remain homeless.
It’s all true as I had lived in unit 6B at 3414 Knox Place. My unit had suffered the most destruction out of all units that sustained fire damage in the building. I was forced to evacuate my unit with only the clothes I was wearing. I had lost everything including all personal documents. Management and others had looted my apartment. Management lied and stated all of my property was destroyed. I had visited the building on December 27 and saw my bedroom set in tact.The drawers were pilfered through. Every tenant in the building was able to salvage items except myself. The fire didn’t start in my unit and yet management refuses to help me to relocate.They know my unit may never be deemed habitable again. The other tenants will be able to return to their units while I remain homeless.